It seems like everyone recognizes our challenges. A few also seem to recognize potential opportunities that we may have to improve. Who can say what will happen? Coach Morris apparently thinks that we will surprise a lot of people who are thinking that we will play no better than the 4-8 team that we were last season. In his first season at the helm and with blame being laid at the feet of the previous staff, he probably doesn't need to make lofty predictions about the Hogs being better. Nonetheless, he thinks we will surprise some people.

Miller seems to think the same potential exists. He reviews the offense, the defense and then makes a schedule prediction.

Arkansas football enters the 2018 campaign in a very unique spot coming off a last place finish in the SEC West from the previous season. The SEC West should be an even more difficult division to compete in this fall, especially with those two schools in Alabama looking like clear top 10 teams.

Most fans around the SEC would give the Hogs a slim chance to compete in the SEC this year, and to become postseason eligible. However, it wouldn’t take a miraculous level of improvement from Morris and his coaching staff to get Arkansas back to at least six wins this season. Arkansas had some very close matchups last season that could’ve gone either way.

Flip that fortune around, and we’re looking at a much different result for the Hogs in 2018. We’ll see how that pans out in the end, with some position battles and progression still needed on both sides of the ball. There’s no doubt that it’s still a long road ahead for Morris and his coaching staff.

Here’s a look at how the Arkansas Razorbacks could fare on both sides of the ball in 2018, and how the schedule could ultimately play out.

It seems like everyone recognizes our challenges. A few also seem to recognize potential opportunities that we may have to improve. Who can say what will happen? Coach Morris apparently thinks that we will surprise a lot of people who are thinking that we will play no better than the 4-8 team that we were last season. In his first season at the helm and with blame being laid at the feet of the previous staff, he probably doesn't need to make lofty predictions about the Hogs being better. Nonetheless, he thinks we will surprise some people.

Miller seems to think the same potential exists. He reviews the offense, the defense and then makes a schedule prediction.

Arkansas football enters the 2018 campaign in a very unique spot coming off a last place finish in the SEC West from the previous season. The SEC West should be an even more difficult division to compete in this fall, especially with those two schools in Alabama looking like clear top 10 teams.

Most fans around the SEC would give the Hogs a slim chance to compete in the SEC this year, and to become postseason eligible. However, it wouldn’t take a miraculous level of improvement from Morris and his coaching staff to get Arkansas back to at least six wins this season. Arkansas had some very close matchups last season that could’ve gone either way.

Flip that fortune around, and we’re looking at a much different result for the Hogs in 2018. We’ll see how that pans out in the end, with some position battles and progression still needed on both sides of the ball. There’s no doubt that it’s still a long road ahead for Morris and his coaching staff.

Here’s a look at how the Arkansas Razorbacks could fare on both sides of the ball in 2018, and how the schedule could ultimately play out.

If either Hayden or Hammonds go down with injury at any point, we have no RB's. I'm not even close to being sold on Whaley.

I'm not sold on the WRs either.

And I know Chavis is coming in, but this D was worst in SEC last 2 years, by far, and among worst 10 or 15 in the entire NCAA. They can't tackle, can't stop the run, and can't pressure the QB. Other than that, they are great. I'll believe in meaningful defensive improvement when I see it, but it cannot occur overnight. Maybe in 2 or 3 seasons Arkansas' defense will be competitive against likes of A&M, LSU, Auburn and Bama.

The bottom line to me is quite simply (duh) the difference between what the offense averages p/game compared to what the defense give up. It is difficult at this point to predict with any real degree of accuracy how improved either unit will be.

But playing in the SEC West I feel pretty confident that if the hogs want to win 7 they are going to have to gain 30-40 more yards/gm than the defense gives up (on average).

If they want to win 8, the difference will have to grow to 50-60 p/gm.

To eclipse 8 wins and move into the 9 win (not just this year but in the future) they will have to rise above the 60 p/gm number to 70-90 p/gm. Keep in mind that this is an average of all games, not just SEC games.

And there is a big difference between playing in the West and in the East. 6 of the 7 East teams have averaged a difference of 27 yards/gm or less over the last 4 years and half of those have averaged having winning records over that time.

Alabama has averaged a 170 yard p/gm difference over the course of 2014-2017. You can understand why they have accomplished that which they have. Yet, they have found a way to lose at least one game every year so they aren't perfect or unbeatable.

Everything is a mystery right now. Some are plagued by the disappointments and underachieving of the recent past and others want to be optimistic about the change in staff and philosophies on both sides of the ball. Truth is, we don't really know what to expect, with few exceptions.

How quickly and by how much can Morris get this thing turned around? It is a guess at this point. We will know a lot more by mid season. I hope for the best and perhaps in the smallest form, that could be just being competitive in every P-5 game we play and not blowing leads when we earn those.

The bottom line to me is quite simply (duh) the difference between what the offense averages p/game compared to what the defense give up. It is difficult at this point to predict with any real degree of accuracy how improved either unit will be.

But playing in the SEC West I feel pretty confident that if the hogs want to win 7 they are going to have to gain 30-40 more yards/gm than the defense gives up (on average).

If they want to win 8, the difference will have to grow to 50-60 p/gm.

To eclipse 8 wins and move into the 9 win (not just this year but in the future) they will have to rise above the 60 p/gm number to 70-90 p/gm. Keep in mind that this is an average of all games, not just SEC games.

And there is a big difference between playing in the West and in the East. 6 of the 7 East teams have averaged a difference of 27 yards/gm or less over the last 4 years and half of those have averaged having winning records over that time.

Alabama has averaged a 170 yard p/gm difference over the course of 2014-2017. You can understand why they have accomplished that which they have. Yet, they have found a way to lose at least one game every year so they aren't perfect or unbeatable.

Everything is a mystery right now. Some are plagued by the disappointments and underachieving of the recent past and others want to be optimistic about the change in staff and philosophies on both sides of the ball. Truth is, we don't really know what to expect, with few exceptions.

How quickly and by how much can Morris get this thing turned around? It is a guess at this point. We will know a lot more by mid season. I hope for the best and perhaps in the smallest form, that could be just being competitive in every P-5 game we play and not blowing leads when we earn those.

this is one of the dumber, thick-headed, comments I've seen here in a good while. You are verbose, so to some, it may sound semi-intelligent. Reality is that you made about 2 simple points and took 8 paragraphs to say it.

Everything is not a mystery now. We do know what to expect to a large degree. What Morris can do this season is not a guess. But of course we will know more by mid season. Good lord, Captain Obvious. You are in love with typing. Please think before you pop off one of these again.

this is one of the dumber, thick-headed, comments I've seen here in a good while. You are verbose, so to some, it may sound semi-intelligent. Reality is that you made about 2 simple points and took 8 paragraphs to say it.

Everything is not a mystery now. We do know what to expect to a large degree. What Morris can do this season is not a guess. But of course we will know more by mid season. Good lord, Captain Obvious. You are in love with typing. Please think before you pop off one of these again.

The usual response by you to anything that doesn't just drip with negativity and doesn't mimic your typical thought process.

In our entire history, there has only been one coach to go winless in conference play. It takes not just a bad coach, but an exceptionally bad coach to do that at Arkansas. Think about it, when Jack Crowe was rolling a team out there that got beat by the Citadel, Joe Kines managed some conference wins that year. When BP was converting on a 4th and 15 so that we wouldn’t lose to a rent-a-win in Little Rock, we got some conference wins. When John L was keeping his piss hot and Manziel made us look like a peewee team trying to tackle him, we got some wins.

In our entire history, there has only been one coach to go winless in conference play. It takes not just a bad coach, but an exceptionally bad coach to do that at Arkansas. Think about it, when Jack Crowe was rolling a team out there that got beat by the Citadel, Joe Kines managed some conference wins that year. When BP was converting on a 4th and 15 so that we wouldn’t lose to a rent-a-win in Little Rock, we got some conference wins. When John L was keeping his piss hot and Manziel made us look like a peewee team trying to tackle him, we got some wins.

We’re going to win at least one conference game.

Yep. And that one coach started on what was it, an 11 game conference losing streak at Arkansas? Then, he finished it up with the worst conference loss in the history of the program at Auburn (56-3) in his next to last season and topped it all off by going 1-7 in his last season, avoiding a bookend 0-8 by a miracle comeback win over hapless Ole Miss. Tell me again why Bret should not have been fired after the 2016 season?

Yep. And that one coach started on what was it, an 11 game conference losing streak at Arkansas? Then, he finished it up with the worst conference loss in the history of the program at Auburn (56-3) in his next to last season and topped it all off by going 1-7 in his last season, avoiding a bookend 0-8 by a miracle comeback win over hapless Ole Miss. Tell me again why Bret should not have been fired after the 2016 season?